New Year’s Resolutions and Fresh Starts

So, I know that New Years has come and gone, but I wanted to really think about what I wanted to do for New Year’s Resolutions.  I still have my 101 Things that I’m working on, but I still want to do some resolutions.  The New Year is like a fresh start for me.  Actually, I have several fresh starts every year.  Each August/September feels like a fresh start because it is a new school year.  Each term (and I have 8 at my school) feels like a fresh start.  I only get paid once a month and each month feels like a fresh start in that way.

But there is something about January, the New Year, and getting to start again.  Maybe it is the snow and cold weather.  Maybe it is the practice it takes to write the new year on all my checks and on the board at school.  Maybe it is because it is close to my birthday and I begin to really feel one year older once January hits.  I don’t know, but I really do like the easy, clean feeling that New Year’s brings.

This year, I was sick on New year’s Eve and so I was awake from about 9:00 to 10:30 and then went back to bed.  It didn’t feel like my traditional New Year’s Eve.  I didn’t write my resolutions that day.  I didn’t write them the next day.  I’ve thought about them, let them simmer in my mind for the last 9 days, and now I am ready to actually write them down and put them out there for the world to see.

There aren’t many because I really want to focus on just these things.

1.  Start writing on a regular basis again.  I recently went through some old poetry that I have written and it hit me suddenly how much I miss writing.  I mean I really miss it.  Writing poetry is, for me, a cleansing of my soul.  A rebirth.  I little piece of me on paper.  So here are the real goals:

• Write one poem a week and post it here on the blog.
• Keep a creative writing journal regularly – 3x week.
• Get a subscription to Poetry magazine. (And read it every month of course.)

2.  I want to start reading more Young Adult Literature.  I love it when I can reccommend a book to a student or just a teenager I know, and they love it.  I wasn’t much of a reader when I was young, but I am now.

• Read two Young Adult Literature books a month.
• Write a detailed review and post on the blog.
• Start doing “book talks” for my students on the books I am reading.  I want to build my collection so that I have at least one book talk to present each week to my classes.

3.  I know that I’m not exactly the healthiest person in the world.  So here are some things I want to work on.  These aren’t as specific, because, well I just want to do better – not be perfect.

• Be more regular in my sleeping habits.  Try to go to bed by 10:30 every night and wake up by 7:30 every morning – even weekends.  (EEEK!)  This also means that I am going to try to eliminate napping, unless it is a rare occasion.
• Eat healthier.  I want to try to each less gluten.  I think it is really making me not feel so well.  Which means I will need to eat at home more and eat more veggies, fruit, and protein.
• Become more active whether that includes exercising or just getting up and out and doing more.

4.  And last, but not least.  I want to become much, much better at taking pictures.  That means that I am going to have to put forth a lot of time into this endevor.  So far, I have noticed that I go in spurts of picture taking.

• At least 2 times a month, spend some time going to a new place in and around the Salt Lake Valley to take pictures.
• 2 times a month, learn and try something new in Aperture.
• Post my successes and failures on the blog.
• Try to enter every single one of The Pioneer Woman’s Photography challenges.

Well, that’s it.  That is everything.  Did you notice that I chose my resolutions to center around my blog and the different sections.  I also made goals to post these things on the blog.  Here we go!  Wish me luck!